carpe factum: accomplishment integration management

Some day, I'm going to write a book.

Some day, I'll run a marathon.

Some day, I'll clean that closet.

Some day, I'm going to take that vacation I've always wanted.

Accomplishments come in all shapes and sizes. The only accomplishment that doesn't fit is the one that never gets accomplished. We make excuses. We procrastinate. We "re-prioritize." We daydream. But we don't DO.

But that's not always a bad thing. Accomplishments take time. I ran across a long-term goals page I had written out about 15 years ago. Included in my long term goals were:

Become a college instructor
Write a book
Become an independent consultant
Speak to audiences nationwide

Only one of those goals started and was realized almost immediately (college instructor). The other three have only come to real fruition in the last four or five years.

Sometimes, we have to tell our dreams "not yet." The real trick is to keep track of them during that waiting period. Famed choreographer, dancer, and author Twyla Tharp suggests keeping a box to file away everything contributing to the creation of your accomplishments. In her words, "Before you can think outside the box, you have to have a box." She shared how she built her box for the stage performance of Movin' Out, which she collaborated with Billy Joel.

I keep track of my planned accomplishments on paper and electronically. I'll jot down a line which would make a great sentence or paragraph in another book and store it in an electronic file. I'll track people's names who'd make great character names. I keep ideas for that restaurant I may want to open some day. There's a completed children's book sitting on my laptop. There are bins and boxes of wild things everywhere which feed my imagination and my accomplishments.

In the quest to Carpe Factum, remember it's OK to store your planned accomplishments away for a while. Just remember where you put them, and don't forget to pull them out and dust them off every once in a while... just to keep the dream alive... and the wild rumpus going.

So.... what are your "filed things" and where are you keeping them?